The Last Space Shuttle Mission

July 8, 2011

Video: NASA

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Where Are We Going?

• Low-Earth Orbit

• Interplanetary Travel

• Interstellar Travel

Image: NASA

• Low-Earth Orbit

• Interplanetary Travel

• Interstellar Travel

Where Are We Going?

Image: NASA

Images: NASA; Wikimedia (AAxanderr)

Low-Earth Orbit

Current Low-Earth Orbit capabilities:

• International Space Station

• Russian Soyuz

• Chinese Shenzhou

NASA Partnerships

Instead of building low-earth orbit spacecraft, NASA is partnering with private companies.

Images: SpaceX (used with permission); Orbital (via NASA); The Boeing Company (via NASA)

NASA PartnershipsLow-Earth Orbit capabilities in the works:

Dragon(SpaceX, 2011)

Cygnus(Orbital, 2012?)

CST-100(Boeing, 2015?)

Dragon

• First launchand recoveryDecember 8, 2010

• Demo mission toISS planned forNovember 30, 2011

Image: SpaceX (used with permission)

Low-Earth Orbit

Outlook:

• We’re already there!

Image: NASA

Low-Earth Orbit

Outlook:

• We’re already there!

• Low-earth orbit travel will become cheaper and more accessible over the next decade.

Image: NASA

• Low-Earth Orbit

• Interplanetary Travel

• Interstellar Travel

Where Are We Going?

Image: NASA

Interplanetary Travel

Obama’s Projected Timeline:

• 2010s: development of low-Earth orbit vehicles

Image: NASA

Interplanetary Travel

Obama’s Projected Timeline:

• 2010s: development of low-Earth orbit vehicles

• 2025: crewed missions into deep space

Image: NASA

Interplanetary Travel

Obama’s Projected Timeline:

• 2010s: development of low-Earth orbit vehicles

• 2025: crewed missions into deep space

• 2030s: crewed missions to Mars and back

Image: NASA

In the News:Space Launch System

NASA has announced designs for a new heavy-lift rocket to reach beyond low-earth orbit.

Image: NASA

In the News:Space Launch System

• Horsepower equivalent of 160,000 Corvette engines

• Weighs 5.5 million pounds, or the equivalent of 24 fully loaded 747s

• Payload of 77 tons, or the equivalent of 12 full-grown elephants

Image: NASA

Challenges

• Propulsion

• Radiation exposure

Challenges

• Propulsion

• Radiation exposure

Remember from Part I:

2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O(g) + Energy

Limitations ofChemical Propellants

Remember from Part I:

2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O(g) + Energy

How much energy?

1 lb H2 7.5 days

Limitations ofChemical Propellants

Image: Wikimedia (Inductiveload)

Remember from Part I:

2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O(g) + Energy

Space Shuttle external tank carried over200,000 pounds!

Limitations ofChemical Propellants

Remember from Part I:

Limitations ofChemical Propellants

Moon 384,403km 1x 8.5 hr

Mars 74,799,000km 195x 6 mo

Jupiter 893,000,000km 2,323x 13 mo

Solar System 4,338,342,000km 11,286x 8 yr

Proxima Centauri 42,000,000,000,000km 109,260,000x 78,000yr

“About two-thirds of the mass on an Earth-to-Mars-to-Earth mission would be propellant”

- Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee

Final Report, October 2009

Limitations ofChemical Propellants

Alternatives toChemical Propellants

Chemical reactions: same atoms, new molecules

2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O(g) + Energy+ → +

Alternatives toChemical Propellants

Chemical reactions: same atoms, new molecules

2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O(g) + Energy+ → +

Nuclear reactions: new atoms2 H2 → He + Energy

→ +

Alternatives toChemical Propellants

Chemical reactions: same atoms, new molecules

2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O(g) + Energy+ → +

Nuclear reactions: new atoms2 H2 → He + Energy

→ +400,000 x more energy

Alternatives toChemical Propellants

Chemical reactions: same atoms, new molecules

1 lb H2 7.5 days

Image: Wikimedia (Inductiveload)

Alternatives toChemical Propellants

Chemical reactions: same atoms, new molecules

1 lb H2 7.5 days

Nuclear reactions: new atoms

1 lb H2 2,900 years!

Image: Wikimedia (Inductiveload)

Propulsion

“If we ever really want to explore the solar system, it’s going to have to be nuclear”

- John Grunsfeld, PhD, former astronaut

Quote: AAAS “NASA at a Turning Point” http://membercentral.aaas.org

Challenges

• Propulsion

• Radiation exposure

Radiation Exposure

On Earth we are protected by:• Earth’s magnetic field

Image: NASA

Radiation Exposure

On Earth we are protected by:• Earth’s magnetic field

• The atmosphere

Images: NASA; NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Radiation Exposure

Space station crew receives the equivalent of about 1 chest X-ray every 1-2 days.

Images: NASA; Wikimedia (Nevit Dilmen)

Radiation Exposure

Interplanetary astronauts will be outside the Earth’s magnetic field and need protection from radiation.

But radiation shields are heavy!

Images NASA

Interplanetary Travel

Outlook:

The technological hurdles are probably surmountable…

Image: NASA

Interplanetary Travel

Outlook:

The technological hurdles are probably surmountable…

… but will require long-term investment and research.

Image: NASA

• Low-Earth Orbit

• Interplanetary Travel

• Interstellar Travel

Where Are We Going?

Image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team; A. Riess (STScI)

In the News:100 Year Starship

A DARPA program to develop a research and investment model that may one day allow us to build a starship

Image: NASA

In the News:100 Year Starship

NOT a program to build a starship!

Image: NASA

In the News:100 Year Starship

On 11/11/11, DARPA will award $500,000 to study what it will take to launch a starship 100 years from now.

Image: NASA

Interstellar Travel

100 years isn’t so crazy: Jules Verne published “From the Earth to the Moon” in 1865, 104 years before the Apollo landings.

Images: Wikimedia; NASA

Interstellar Travel

Outlook:

If it happens, it is unlikely to be in our lifetimes…

Image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team; A. Riess (STScI)

Interstellar Travel

Outlook:

If it happens, it is unlikely to be in our lifetimes…

… but clever people are starting to think about it!

Image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team; A. Riess (STScI)

Where Are We Going?

We are ready at last to set sail for the stars. ~ Carl Sagan

Video: NASA

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Toward the Final Frontier of Manned Space Flight

Part I: How we got here: Background and challenges (Ryann)

Part II: Why boldly go? Why not? (Luke)

Part III: Where are we going? (Emily)

Thank you!SITN would like to acknowledge the following

organizations for their generous support.

Harvard Medical SchoolOffice of Communications and External Relations

Division of Medical Sciences

The Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS)

The Harvard Biomedical Graduate Students Organization (BGSO)

The Harvard/MIT COOP

Restaurant Associates